The scene of the Boeing 737 MAX 8 crash is seen in Ethiopia. Photo: Reuters

Vietnam’s aviation watchdog announced on Wednesday a decision to temporarily suspend all flights using Boeing 737 MAX jets from its airspace to ensure passenger safety.

The ban takes effect from 10:00 am on Wednesday until further notice, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Vietnam (CAAV).
The CAAV will also stop approving new flight operations for services using the said aircraft.

The Vietnamese aviation watchdog said it decided to bar such flights from its airspace to ensure air safety after having assessed information related to the operations of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft, in the wake of the Ethiopian Airlines crash on Sunday.

The doomed flight, using a Boeing 737 MAX 8 and bound for Nairobi, Kenya, crashed six minutes after take-off, killing all 157 people on board and raising questions about the safety of the Boeing 737 MAX airplanes, a new model the Ethiopian carrier just added to its fleet in January.

On October 29, 2018, a Lion Air flight using the same Boeing jet model crashed into the Java Sea 13 minutes after take-off from Jakarta, killing all 189 people on board.

Against this context, Singapore and Australia suspended operations of all Boeing 737 MAX jets in and out of their airports on Tuesday, adding to a growing list of countries and airlines grounding the U.S. planemaker’s narrow-body aircraft series.